An Investigation of Big Five Personality and Propensity to Commit White-Collar Crime

Abstract

Not all pressured, greedy, and opportunistic individuals actually commit white-collar crime. So what exactly is the common denominator for individuals to commit white-collar crime? This study investigates the propensity of an individual to commit white-collar crime and advances personality as an explanatory factor. Questionnaire survey data is collected from 357 undergraduate accounting students in a later year accounting course at a large university in Australia. Personality is measured using the Big Five Inventory. Support is provided for the view that individuals scoring lower in agreeableness and lower in conscientiousness have a higher propensity to commit white-collar crime. While no significant main effect associations emerged for extraversion, neuroticism, or openness to experience, inspection of individual parameter estimates revealed a significant negative association between neuroticism and propensity to commit white-collar crime but only in certain circumstances.

Citation

Turner, M.J. (2014), "An Investigation of Big Five Personality and Propensity to Commit White-Collar Crime", Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research (Advances in Accounting Behavioural Research, Vol. 17), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 57-94. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1475-148820140000017002